Gas and fuel is costing me a small fortune, last week I was driving past a place that imports trucks and these trucks cought my eye, main reason was now that is different, I have never seen these before.

They are a 3 cyl, some are Honda, Toyota, Suzuki....many have a dump, they will haul 1,200 pounds, 45 mpg, right hand steer, four wheel drive.

Aside from fuel costs I really need more trucks, this importer has 24 he just received, most are in the 1990 to 1996 range, cost for one without a dump is in the $5,500 range, with dump $7,000

I did google them and there isnt any information to speak of, the local dealers will service them however parts would have to be ordered in.

I am thinking of buying two, maybe three. Imagine the reaction from people who see them all lettered out, I still take note of Smart Cars when I see them, what a marketing idea.

I have no idea how it is in Canada, but I know that at least here in Missouri, it is not possible to register them to use on the roadway. Again, I have no idea how things work in Canada.

Part of the issue is with the fact that these are not imported with the permission of the manufacturers. Therefore they are brought in on what is referred to as the "gray market" meaning they are not on the "black market" but they are also not on the "white market" or whatever would be the opposite of the black market (open market?). I suppose they get the name from the thought of "its not black and white", therefore this is a "gray area" where these fall into. That make sense?

Just the same, I love the looks of the little guys (hey, I am short and can talk about "little guys"!!!) and think they would be a great tool, especially for off road use. Not sure how they would do in snow and whatever other weather Canada dishes out.

Matter of fact a friend of mine was talking about them the other day and said his dad was looking at buying one for farm use since it is 4X4 and should be pretty versatile.

I have been looking at these this evening, doing some research on the net, I see they are used a lot in the USA on farms, instead of ATV`s etc. but none that I found are allowed on the highway.

So I called my borther in law, he is head of Canada Customs for Atlantic Canada, he did some checking and they are ligit and have been imported properly and inspected by transport Canada. They are driven in British Columbia on the roads a lot, I have only seen one or two around here and assumed someone bought them over seas and brought them back, I see this a lot being a port city with a very large Navy base.

All I am looking for is something that looks decent, cheap to run for city use only. I need these for pressure washing and small cleanups, we may haul a little mulch but that is about it. Just something that would hold basic lawn care stuff to free my trucks up for bigger jobs.

They will not see highway use so the fact that they will only go 55 mph is a non issue.

I am going to buy one Monday or see if they will let me at least have it for a couple of hours, I will report back.

This could make for another great newspaper article. How you are going more 'green' with your business. Maybe call your newspaper contact about this.

Never thought of that, I see this as a major marketing play, I mean when smart cars came to our city I really took notice, didn't want one but had to have a look, then companies started buying them and advertising, I can probably name 15 companies here that have them, ask me to name 5 companies driving full sized trucks and I would struggle.

So the more I think about this and cementing the name of our company in the minds of the prospect, I am sold. And it would cost the bigger companies too much to switch, because we are in a major growth phase it is nothing major to me, saves me capital and the operating cost is 70% less than what we are paying now, sometimes we have to make multiple trips to get all the gear to a site, one or two of these would cure that.

I mean, two or three of these parked at a coffee shop in the morning with lettering may make some laugh but I bet if you asked them a few days later they would remember the company name.

Going to throw this out to the staff and see what they think also, I like to involve them in the decision making process as I see us as a team and everyone including myself has equal say.